A CAFE set up to serve a Widnes community is celebrating the roaring success of its first day of trading.

A CAFE set up to serve a Widnes community is celebrating the roaring success of its first day of trading.

The West Bank Community Cafe was set up by a group of volunteers who had taken part in Cook and Taste sessions, organised by community food worker Pam Wallace.

Once the sessions ended, the 'Kitchen Invaders' were formed, as the session members wanted to explore new tastes and recipes to do with healthy eating, with the intention of eventually opening their own community cafe.

Now, thanks to funding from the Community Chest, Awards for All, Halton Borough Council and Hearts of North Cheshire, the cafe is to open its doors once a week to serve a variety of affordable, healthy and tasty dishes and snacks.

Support for the cafe came from Halton Voluntary Action, the West Bank Community Forum, the St Mary's Parents' and Toddlers' Group and local councillors Dave Leadbetter and Ted Gleave.

Following the success of the community cafe, the Kitchen Invaders hope to be able to open on another day of the week to provide food and entertainment for West Bank's older community.

And the cafe will also be holding food-related activities throughout the year for younger customers.

Pam Wallace, Kitchen Invaders secretary, said: 'The opening was very successful and we were very very busy!

'It's a lovely environment and it's somewhere for people to come and enjoy themselves, where they can meet up and where they can also access other agencies like the Workshop.

'It's a great thing for the area.' The West Bank Community Cafe opens its doors every Wednesday from 10.30am-3.30pm and can be found at the community base at 17 Parsonage Road, off Oakland Street, in West Bank.